Harry Shearer on "American exceptionalism." It struck me that that phrase has gained a lot of traction because Barack Obama declined to parrot it verbatim. A bunch of Conservatives were going around using it, telling Americans that Americans were the greatest people on the planet…and of course, by "Americans," they meant only the ones who side with them. They didn't, for instance, mean Liberals who might by some silly technicality be considered by some to be Americans.
This is not unusual. I suspect that in most nations on this globe, there's someone running around telling the people there that they're the most terrific, super, fabulous people anywhere and they're God's chosen humans and let's feel sorry for anyone who isn't us, etc. Anyway, in that grand tradition, these Conservatives started using the term, "American exceptionalism."
And then along came Obama and he's no different from any politician in this regard. He tells us how spectacular we are, only he puts it in his own words. He says we're extraordinary and grand and, you know, our feces have no aroma…but he doesn't use the precise term, "American exceptionalism."
Which is the cue for everyone on Fox News to point that out and act like he said we were river bottom trash. He couldn't even bring himself to utter the words, "American exceptionalism." Obviously, that's because he doesn't believe America is exceptional. If he did, he would say it that way instead of some other way…and it's all just another bogus way to fill air time and to try and whip the dumber public into supporting Republican candidates who'll cut Rupert Murdoch's taxes. My, that's exceptional.